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After the Maoist attack on Congress state leadership in Chhattisgarh last year, the Union Cabinet had approved the project to install 2,199 mobile towers and June 2014 was set as the deadline to complete the task.

But, only 363 towers have been installed so far.

Lack of effective communications network in these areas has become a cause of concern for the Union Home Ministry that has been reminding the department of telecom to expedite installation of towers.

However, these reminders have not yielded any result.

A week before the recent Maoist attack in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had sent yet another reminder to Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

"The poor communication network in the Naxal-affected areas is a matter of serious concern," Shinde said in the letter dated March 4.

Stressing the need to have a better communications network in place before the Lok Sabha elections, the home minister wrote that installation of mobile towers may be expedited, especially in the highly Naxal-affected states like Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa and all-out efforts be made to complete the whole process before the Lok Sabha elections.

"The work was awarded to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and installation and roll out of mobile towers was targeted to be completed in 12 months," Shinde reminded in his letter.

Top government sources say it is shocking how such a basic thing such as installing mobile towers is stuck in red tape.

"While there is mobile boom across the country, there are no mobile networks in conflict zones like the Naxalhit states.

Such letters were also written when P Chidambaram was the home minister," the source said.

The home ministry is miffed with the department of telecom for going slow in its project of constructing 2,199 mobile towers in troubled states.

In June last year the Cabinet had approved the project; and it was decided to expedite the work and complete it within a year. But since then nothing has changed.

The June 2014 deadline is unlikely to be met, with only 363 towers installed.

To make matters worse, an error in estimate of the Rs 3,046-budget has further delayed matters as an additional amount of Rs 789 crore is required.

Sources say even the towers that have been installed are not functioning due to maintenance issues.

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Is poor mobile phone coverage putting jawans in danger? Government is falling short on telecom improvements in Naxal zones